


When Everything You Have is Nothing

by desperationandgin



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-27
Updated: 2014-08-28
Packaged: 2018-02-15 01:10:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2209986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/desperationandgin/pseuds/desperationandgin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Regina runs away after Daniel is killed and before she has to marry the king. She's lost in the woods, injured and scared, when a certain thief and his Merry Men come to her aid. A four part Outlaw Queen fic set in the Enchanted Forest.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Out Through the Woods

Regina is running before she knows what she's doing.

_Daniel is gone. Daniel is dead. You're going to marry the king._

She can't stomach it, can't imagine it, can't bear the weight of her imaginary crown. And it seems her handmaiden, the one who so often helps her after one of Cora's particularly violent tirades, the one who tries to calmly encourage Regina to get through one more ball, can't stand to see the girl so wrought with grief. And so, eight hours after Regina held Daniel's body in her arms, under the cover of a moonless night, Regina is running. All she has is her nightdress, her cloak, and a ring. There was no time for anything else, no time for anything more than a few apples from her tree and whispered instructions:

"Out through the servant's entrance, into the underground tunnel that your mother had built for transporting wines to the cellar, out through the woods. "

Out through the woods.

 _Out through the woods_.

It's all Regina can think even as she tries navigating through looming trees, heart pounding in crescendo with the words.  _Out through the woods_. Her hair snags leaves, her cloak is torn, and still she runs. She runs until her legs beg for relief and then she runs farther. Away from her mother, away from the king. Away from Daniel's dead body still lying in the stables. She runs until her lungs feel like they might force their way out of her chest as tears blur her vision when a tree branch scrapes along her arm. She's so deep in the woods that she has no idea where she's going, no one gave her instructions for after the tunnel, just hoped that she could get far out of Cora's reach before sunrise.

When she trips over a rock, her small bundle of apples launches out of her grasp and she cries out as her temple meets the ground. And now the beat in her head is replaced by throbbing.

 _Get up, get up, get up_.

She can't lie here and still escape, but her head feels like lead now, and there's something warm on her cheek. She reaches up and her fingers come away sticky, but then there are footsteps. Her stomach twists but she can't move, she's going to vomit, and then there are boots. Someone yelling that it's alright, it's just a girl, and then a hand extends to her.

There's a tattoo, she realizes, it's black and large, highlighted by sudden flicks of firelight. 

"...Out through the woods," she whispers, and then everything is dark and quiet, and she is gone.

\---

When she wakes, her eyes stay closed and she listens to hushed voices arguing somewhere nearby.

"Look at her cloak, it's expensive. So is her dress. Someone will be looking for her."

"She's clearly running from something. Perhaps the same someone you think may come."

"If she's rich, there will be a reward."

"If she's in danger it's not worth the money."

"Are we going to keep her then? Hope she doesn't bring misfortune to our camp?"

"As long as she's still injured, at least."

Her eyes blink open then, focusing on tarp and wood, though when she raises her stomach rolls, and she goes back down with a groan. The noise alerts the men speaking and their voices go quiet before the tent flap opens. "Please don't give me back for money." It's what she's afraid of now, that whoever these people are will hand her over and then she'll be trapped and there will surely be no way to escape ever again.

"I assure you, no one is ransoming you." His voice is soft and there's an accent she's never heard, and his eyes are so very, very blue. 

"You're not from here," she realizes, eyes closing as she swallows back the urge to vomit again.

"No," comes his soft reply and he pokes his head out of the tent, calls for something she can't hear. When he comes back, he has a wooden cup in his hand and helps her slowly to sit up and take it. "Drink this tea. It will settle your stomach," he explains, and when he brings it to her lips she can smell ginger, knows it grows wild in some places.

"Where are you from?" she asks, but only after a few sips and she's lying back down.

"I rarely settle, but my home was once another forest. My men and I have only just traveled here."

"Your men?" Her eyes find his and she realizes his voice is the same as the one that found her in the woods. And sure enough, her gaze spies the edges of black ink on his forearm.

"We live in these woods. Make our temporary home here while we work."

"What do you do for work?" She imagines wood cutters or some kind of hunting and gathering.

"Charity." His smile is so easy and he has dimples, and she blinks in confusion.

"...Charity? What does that mean?"

He helps her take another sip of the tea before explaining. "It means my men and I help allocate the many resources of the wealthy in this land by giving them to those less fortunate."

It takes a moment for her to process what he's saying, and when she realizes, she narrows her eyes a little. "You steal?"

"From the rich."

"And give to the poor?"

"Precisely, milady. And as you might imagine, that doesn't make us popular among kings and nobles."

The look he's giving her makes her realize what he's thinking, remembering the conversation she overheard and she's all at once speaking in a rush. "Please, no, I'm not anyone. I swear, I won't tell anyone who you are, or even that I saw you. If you could just let me go, you'll never hear from me again." Even as she's speaking she's trying to get up, to prove she's not a threat by leaving, but her legs give out and he's keeping her steady, guiding her back down.

"You're not strong enough to leave," he insists. "Who are you running from? And where did you intend to go?"

Her eyes dart from the tent flap back to him, and she wets her lips. "I'm running from the king. I don't know where I'm going. To another land, another realm. I don't know but I can't...I can't marry him."

She watches his face, stoic as he processes this information and she knows, she  _knows_  the reward for a princess will be high, and she begs him silently. But then he nods at her finger.

"That's not the engagement ring of a future queen."

Regina looks at her hand where the simple brass saddle ring has taken residence, her head shaking slowly. "Because I never planned to be a queen. And I never planned to marry him." Her eyes fill with tears and she begs him, out loud this time. "Please. Allow me to escape."

He looks contemplative and a hand runs over the scruff on his face as he seems to think. "What's your name?"

"What's yours?"

"Robin," he replies easily, and so she tells him she's Regina.

"Well, milady, I suppose we have something to work out, then."

She's confused, so, so confused, and she reaches up to rub her face wincing when she realizes there's a gash on her cheek. "What do you mean?"

The thief's voice clears as he hands her the tea once more, though this time he allows her to drink on her own. "You come from a wealthy family if you were marrying the king. I can tell you exactly how to leave these woods and cross into safety. And you can tell me how best to break into the home you came from."

She'll kill them all. Cora will kill them all, and Regina doesn't know why she cares but she's saying the words out loud before Robin is interrupting her.

"I've stolen from far more dangerous." King George comes to mind.

"She has magic, she'll kill you," Regina insists.

"Well, for that she'll have to catch me," and he winks, and she thinks maybe, maybe he could make it if he weren't so damn smug.

"I'm not telling you. I can't. So please let me go." She moves to get up again and this time Robin doesn't stop her. But before she's even out of the tent her head spins and he's there to catch her. She has no idea where she's going or what she's doing.

If he lives, he can help her.

If he dies, she can continue running on her own.

"If I tell you, you have to get something for me," she finally concedes.

There's that smile again, all dimples and blue eyes, and he helps her lie down again.

"I believe you have a deal, Regina."


	2. Letters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Robin risks himself to retrieve a special personal item from Regina's home.

"Sound it out."

Her voice is gentle and soft, one hand over the stable boy's as they move word by word over parchment. Regina's neat and precise script is purposely spaced out and large, and she catches his gaze. "I wrote this one just for you."

Her words reignite his need to hear them, and he focuses again. 

"I...w-would live in your...love as the s-sea gra...sea grasses live in the sea..." 

She listens as he reads on, the words committed to memory:

_I would live in your love as the sea grasses live in the sea_

_borne up by each wave as it passes,_

_drawn down by each wave that recedes._

_I would empty my soul as the dreams_

_that have gathered in me._

_I would beat with your heart as it beats,_

_I would follow your soul as it leads._

When he finishes, the wind is lightly moving her hair across her face, and she smiles softly. "You're reading so much faster now. I'm proud of you."

"Could we discuss the words?" he asks, and he pushes her hair away from her forehead, eyes moving to the fresh cut on her lip. He'd kissed it a dozen times after she'd sobbed that her mother struck her, and now he kissed it again. "You would follow my soul?"

She smiles and reaches out to let her thumb move over the apple of his cheek, and this is it, this is the moment she's thought about since writing the words for him the night before. "Daniel, I love you. And one day, I'll follow you somewhere amazing."

"I can't lead you anywhere with elegant gowns and jewels."

"But I know we'll give each other a good life, and that's all that matters. That's all I want. You and I together."

Foreheads press close and before he speaks again, his lips brush hers gently. "My love. My Regina."

Her smile is wide and happy against his mouth, and she lets herself imagine a cottage by a babbling brook, with horses and children and happiness.

Forever with her stable boy.

\---

She's been locked in her room, bound by magic and restrained. She's been forced to go without meals for an entire day, and she has been on the receiving end of her mother's cruelest magic. But she has never hurt the way she does now, vacantly staring at flames while Robin's men move all around her, preparing for their journey to her estate. She'll be staying behind with the friar which is fine with her, and she tells Robin what she wants, what he needs to find. But for two days she hasn't said much else. She cries, she  knows everyone can hear her but she doesn't know how to stop. 

She left him behind.

 _Her_  Daniel.  _Her_  love.

She left him to fade away in the stables, or maybe be buried in a shallow grave. He would never have the respect he deserved, he would never be treated with care. Maybe her mother would use her magic to make his body disappear forever and no one would ever know save for Regina.

Footsteps coming toward her makeshift cot make her sniffle, pausing in her soft crying as she looks upward. Robin is already kneeling, watching as she clutches at the ring in her hand as if it's a life line.

"Milady, we'll be leaving as soon as the moon is high. Is there anything else we're to know?"

Regina takes a deep breath, wiping at her eyes. "My mother wakes with the sun. But she never, ever goes into the kitchens. The tunnel opens there and it won't be locked on the inside. You only have to get through the lock on the gate." Clearing her throat, she sits up a little and when she does, the fresh cut on her cheek reveals itself. It isn't deep, but it's still a tender shade of pink. "My room is in the east wing on the second floor."

"I remember," he nods. Remembers where the jewels are, remembers what she wants him to obtain for her. "We should only be away from camp for two nights, and then we'll move our location, push deeper into the forest." Reaching out, his fingers brush lightly over her temple where the knot there has transformed to a nasty bruise. Gaze falling to her upper lip, he speaks quietly. "She did this to you? The mother you're running from?"

Regina's eyes meet his, and her silence is the answer that fuels his fresh anger. He won't feel the least bit guilty about this job. John calls him young and idealistic though they're near the same age, but Robin has never seen himself as anything less than a practical man. Magic is powerful but it isn't smart, and those who wield it, he believes, do so because they only have it to hide behind. If they were without, who would they truly be? He thinks such a person would be afraid to find out. He is smart, and he is not worried.

When they strike out, it's on foot with his bow across his back, following the path where they found Regina and pressing on. It's an hour before they can even see the estate, and he realizes just how far she actually ran. The only problem, is that nearly every window is ablaze with candlelight.

"Of course they're looking for her. She's a princess engaged to marry the king, did you think everyone would go about business as usual when they discovered her missing?"

Robin eyes Little John, then looks back at the estate. "Regina's room should be there," he says, pointing into the distance. "We may not be able to get the jewels, but I gave her my word on a personal item."

"You can't be serious, Robin."

"Do I look as if I'm joking? He looks back at the house, making note. Plans had to change, the kitchen idea abandoned. "There are no men patrolling, nor do I see the royal carriage, which means the king has gone. We'll go to the house. You four," he points then, "Will keep watch and signal as needed." He nods at John and another tall, stocky man. "You two will help me climb to the window. Simple."

"Simple," parrots John sarcastically, moving his thumb across his brow. "And if her mother is keeping vigil in her room?"

Robin turn to begin walking toward the estate.

"She isn't."

\---

They aren't back, for an entire extra day they aren't back, and Regina and Tuck are taking turns wringing their hands, the camp packed and ready to move. She's worried her bottom lip with her teeth enough that she bleeds, and all she can think is that this group of Merry Men has been killed. That their hearts are now dust and her mother has won again. Robin's blue eyes closed forever just like Daniel's, and the friar tells her not to think like that, that there was only a delay, but still, she worries and paces.

It's late, so late that even the crickets have stopped, but their fire is still going to hopefully give the men a landmark. She hears a coo in the woods and pays no attention but Tuck does, making the noise in response, and she realizes then that it's Robin and his men. A knot twists in her stomach, wondering what happened, wondering if he's alright, and selfishly, needing to know if he'd retrieved her items. They come filing through the clearing, exhausted and sitting on the ground one by one as her eyes search for Robin. He's the leader but he rounds up the end, finding her gaze and giving her a nod. He has what she wants. But they need to move, she hears him say, because he was wrong, the king was gone but six of his guards stayed behind and they'd been spotted making their retreat. And so they had to go, as far as they could, perhaps even into the next village, tonight. 

Regina wants to help and does as much as she can, carrying a pack on her shoulders, still in her nightdress which is dirty and damaged beyond repair now. They walk for what feels like hours, and she is trudging along with her eyes closed, Robin and John side by side in front of her, and the rest of the men behind. She doesn't realize they've stopped just as the sun is breaking over the hills, running straight into Robin who turns and reaches out to keep her steady.

"We're stopping. But at nightfall we continue," he announces, then gently pulls Regina aside. He's silent as he pulls a small bundle from his pack, holding it out to her.

"This is what I've risked everything to fetch?" He doesn't sound angry, he sounds curious, and she takes a group of letters, wrapped in a stack with twine, clutching them to her chest.

"They're everything," she whispers, blinking quickly to keep from crying. "My love wrote them. A letter for every day I was to see him."

Robin studies her face intently, eyes moving over her features, and she's so sad and broken, and too young to look this way. He can't be that much older than her, he guesses, but she looks like she's already seen a lifetime of pain. She wears every ache in the way she carries herself, shoulders slightly slumped, eyes always damp with tears.

"Would you care to speak of him?"

Regina looks up, swallows around a lump in her throat and opens her mouth, voice breaking. "She killed him. So that I could marry the king."

It's all she can say, all she wants to say, and she looks down at the letters again, running her fingers over them reverently. "Thank you, Robin."

He's almost too angry on her behalf to have heard her, too absolutely dumbfounded at the knowledge that her mother had killed the man Regina loved, but the words register, and he nods. "I'm glad I could do it." He doesn't tell her that there are no stolen jewels, that the entire mission turned into a personal one for him, to try and help give her something she wanted desperately. "Rest now if you can. Try and sleep."

When he leaves her, she watches him go before sitting against a tree and pulling her legs up to her chest, opening the bundle and pulling out a letter. They were her gift, Daniel had said, for teaching him how to read and write. He never lacked for things to say once he knew how to put them on paper. His shaky manuscript got better with each letter until the one she held now, written only last week and speaking of a porch on their future home to sit on at night and watch the stars, and perhaps building two extra bedrooms instead of just one, and making sure wildflowers grew close to their home so that she and their someday daughter could make flower crowns to their hearts content.

Robin watches her from across the camp, observes her folding the letters back up methodically, and turns away as she buries her face in her hands and cries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The poem written by Regina for Daniel is not my own creation. It is titled 'I Would Live in Your Love' written by Sara Teasdale in the 19th century.
> 
> Fluff soon, I promise :)

**Author's Note:**

> Obviously, as this is an AU, there are some changes:
> 
> Regina never has the chance to preserve Daniel's body.  
> Robin is not married to Marian, nor will she enter the picture.
> 
> There may be other changes along the way as I see fit, but since it's an AU, I think that's alright. There will be no blatantly false or exaggerated character changes, so nothing to worry about there.


End file.
